


under a blanket of stars

by Justaparsec94



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, Character Death, Gen, Jesse deserved better, Post-Order 66, all clones deserved better, everybody needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24040339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justaparsec94/pseuds/Justaparsec94
Summary: In the aftermath of order-66, Rex says goodbye to his brothers.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	under a blanket of stars

The air was thick with smoke when they land. Black and suffocating, choking the light from the air around them as the stepped down from the Y-wing. The world around them is hot, ash clinging to every surface as it erupted from the wreckage, the smell of destruction clinging to the air. The Republic had fallen, and it had taken the clones with it.

Ahsoka is the one who suggests the look for survivors, even though they both know they will find no one alive. Thousands of brothers gone in a blink of an eye. Rex tries to push the thoughts from his mind, if he thinks about it, he won’t be able to keep going. As it is, it is hard enough to put one foot in front of the other as they walk towards the smoking cruiser.

They bring out the bodies one by one, taking the time to bury them with their helmets marking their graves. It’s the least Rex can do for his brothers. They all deserved so much more. Rex feels numb as he stares into face after face, each one exactly like his own, a face that he knows would have been among them had Ahsoka not saved him from the same terrible fate. It doesn’t hurt any less if anything it hurts more knowing they could have been saved. If only he had listened to Fives sooner, maybe, just maybe, he could have saved one more brother.

The list of brothers grows with each passing hour, he makes sure to memorize each name, the markings, the faces. They deserve to have at least one person in the universe remember them. For a moment, he thinks of Cody and the words he had spoken to him not long ago. He was right, sometimes it was harder to be the one who survives. Right now, it was the most painful thing in the universe.

The smoke is beginning to clear by the time they get to the last of the bodies that they can find. They know there are more on-board, but they are lost in the rubble and ruin of the ship. Buried in a tomb of steel forever, lost to the galaxy.

Rex is the one who finds him.

He’s nearly buried beneath the rubble, having fallen as the cruiser made its last, steep descent towards the planet. The charred republic cog is the first thing Rex sees and it freezes him in his place. His limbs feel rooted to the ground, like the entire weight of the galaxy has just collapsed on his shoulders. Jesse.

Jesse, who had stood in the face of death thousands of times and never flinched. Jesse, who had been on the other side of an execution squad before and survived. Jesse, who had stood in the face of Maul and refused to give up, refused to betray his friends. Jesse, who had been turned into a cold, mindless killer by forces he could not control. Jesse, who had been a good soldier, who had followed orders until the very end.

He’s on his knees without even realizing how he got there, pulling the scrap and debris away from Jesse’s body. Maybe, just maybe it isn’t too late. If he can get to him, maybe there is still a chance.

Ahsoka finds him moments later, trying desperately to free his fallen brother from beneath the scrap. She’s exhausted, they both are, but it doesn’t take much for her to lift Jesse free of the wreckage with the help of the force.

They both carry him from the cruiser, his weight should be too much for them at this point, but Rex doesn’t feel a thing. Jesse is weightless.

The grave has already been dug, front and centre. A lieutenant’s place among his men.

Rex collapses beside him as they lay him in the shallow grave. His hands shaking as he reaches for the familiar helmet. It has to come off, but he’s terrified of what he will see beneath. His brother, his friend, the man who had stood beside him through hundreds of missions. A causality of a phantom war.

He feels Ahsoka’s hand on his shoulder as he grasps the edges of the helmet, tears pooling in his eyes once again. It comes away easily, the airlock releasing with a soft hiss. His golden eyes are open, staring blankly at the smoke billowing overhead. A thin stream of blood from his nose is the only sign that something is wrong. The republic cog tattoo stands brighter against his skin which has been leached of its life, paling as the hours go by. Rex reaches out a trembling hand, resting it on his brother’s cheek. He’s cold. Colder than Rex expected. He’s seen thousands of brothers die during the war, held Fives in his arms as the life left him, but he’s never felt a brother this cold.

He hasn’t even realized he has made a noise until Ahsoka is kneeling beside him, her grip on his shoulder tightening and soft, soothing, indistinguishable words leaving her mouth as she tries to comfort him. A thousand memories are running through his head, a smile, a laugh, a shared joke in the barracks, a comforting pat on the shoulder, all Jesse. He deserved so much more. But it’s too late for the ARC trooper. He’s just another one of the millions who had given his life for a republic that no longer exists. Loyal until the very end.

Rex moves his hand to gently close Jesse’s eyes. He put up a hell of a fight. He deserves to rest beneath the stars. With one final look at his brother, Rex crosses Jesse’s arms over his chest and rises. Together they cover him in his grave, leaving him to finally rest. The nightmares are over for him and every other brother on that ship. Rex knows they will haunt him for the rest of his unfairly short life. But he also knows that he will never forget his vod. Never.

Ahsoka’s hand is on his shoulder again as Rex places Jesse’s helmet on its marker. The paint is scorched, blood and dirt are the telltale signs of what happened. The Republic cog standing out as a marker for all that was lost and everything that they had died believing in. It’s a cruel irony. He bows his head for one final moment before he’s moving away. One last sweep of the ship before they move on. Just to make sure they’ve gotten every brother that they could. Ahsoka stays rooted to the spot. He’ll give her all the time she needs. They were still his brothers; they were still her friends.

Captain Rex will never forget them, as much as it hurts, he doesn’t want to. He’ll go on for them. A light in the galaxy for the millions of men who had been snuffed out by cruel manipulation. One day he knows he’ll join them among the stars, but for now, he carries on. For now, there is hope that one day the galaxy will be right again.

**Author's Note:**

> The series finale left me emotionally compromised. I couldn't have asked for a better ending, but Jesse's death hit hard. Please join me in my suffering hah


End file.
